Sunday, 13 October 2013

A hectic work schedule and lack of sleep meant that time on the project has been scarce but I managed to sneak a few hours on the car this afternoon. Work continued in the engine bay whilst I prep the car for engine removal to gain access to the scabby frame rail but most of the time was dedicated to rust/rusty part removal particularly in the butt region...

Radiator removed and binned to clear out the support panel and frame rail that will be replaced in due course.

The factory original 289 engine will be pulled, crated and stored in favour of a 351w engine.

One of the benefits of working on cars of this age is the evidence of the long history it has. Many different people from all walks of life will have owned this car before it became mine and I find it interesting how it has been affected by this. There are several incidences of such affects on this car was is the main focus of my photos taking today.

This visible notation is possibly a reference to a salvage part perhaps indicating a front end collision in the past?

Upon opening the glove compartment, amongst the old nuts and bolts I found what appear to be Food stamps...

...as well as this 'lovely' piece of period curtain material that was bundled up and stuffed into the heater box

The most notable bit of history though has to be this garter belt hanging from the drivers sun visor. A momento from a long ago love perhaps? Or a reminder of the shennanigans that this car has no doubt witnessed...

Back to the restoration however saw more old and crusty parts removed to allow access for shot blasting before the new sheet metal can find its way home. Typically with Mustangs of this era the trunk area has suffered pretty badly from the dreaded tin worm. The panels are shot and the tank is barely held in by anything other than the filler neck and a few screws so some surgery was needed.

Even the simple task of removing the gas tank was a little tricky due to the level of rust in the area. Both side panels as well as the front will need replacing but luckily all the panels were included in the sale.

Next up the rear quarter extensions were removed to assess their condition

Although the trim is beyond saving, replacement trim is cheap enough and easy enough to source to not have to worry about.

The condition of the metalwork under the extensions is great too.

The rust appears to be localised to the rear light panel which has already been purchased and delivered from the US.

Removal of the engine bay support braces in preparation of engine removal shows how badly weakened the right side frame rail is. As it is no longer attached to the front support beam that forms part of the radiator shroud when I removed the right hand support brace the entire right side inner wing shifted up a few mm's.

The right hand rear inner wing apron will be replaced (in part at least) as the screwdriver of truth found a fairly large hole in the top panel.

And the pile of parts that found its way to the dumpster. More rust on the floor means less rust on the car, which can only be a good thing, right?

Once again a random couple of shots of the lay being tucked in for the night before work continues next week where I will work on removing the engine and transmission. More to come then and thanks for reading